The Daily Rios Digest for October 21st, 2023: Returning to Danger Street with issue 5. Discovering SuperYou, A New Musical. Finishing October Comicbook Trivia. And more! (1:18:46)
TIMESTAMPS:
(00:00) Danger Street part 5
(36:02) Timeline Trivia Tuesday: October 2023 part 2
(57:33) New Comics Wednesday
(1:06:49) Theatre & Comics: SuperYou, A New Musical
(1:10:59) Feedback Friday
peter@thedailyrios.com
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Peter!
Another great episode. I’m about halfway through, as I write this, but wanted to comment on Saga of the Swamp Thing #20, as well as Alan Moore and Swamp Thing in general.
Unlike you, I was introduced to this run with the Warner Books collection of issues 21-27, which would have been around 1987, when I was 15. I believe this was also my introduction to Alan Moore. “The Anatomy Lesson” blew me away, and I was a fan of Moore’s for life. I devoured that collection, read it multiple times, got the next one “Love and Death,” and then worked, for years, to gather the rest of the issues, since they weren’t fully collected for decades. Of course, that included issue 20, which (besides the final issue to finish off my collection, #42) is the only one I remember, distinctly purchasing. My family and I were on a summer trip to Prince Edward Island, and when we got a chance to head into the city and look around, I discovered a comic shop in the mall. And they had that elusive first issue from Moore, for only 20 bucks! Canadian! (with the exchange rate it was practically a few cents plus the lint from your pants pocket). I readily handed over my money and then read it as soon as I had the opportunity. It’s a great memory.
One other thing I wanted to share, since you discussed where Moore would go with the character after that first issue, in the timeline trivia section. Something that doesn’t get mentioned often enough is the fact that many of the ideas Moore incorporated into the stories, going forward, came from Stephen Bissette and John Totleben. They were very active collaborators and Moore was a very receptive one. I believe, specifically, the underwater vampires in a later issue came from Bissette and/or Totleben, and Bissette has mentioned — in the new introductions to the hardcovers collections, maybe — that Moore took a lot more of their input and put it into the series. Moore is known for his very specific, and very long, scripts, and people equate that very much with him driving the bus, but he’s also someone who has been open to ideas from all of his collaborators.
Thanks, as always, for the show. Be well,
chris